Notes / Commercial Description:
Prairie Noir is our bourbon barrel aged imperial oatmeal stout. We brew this beer with a huge amount of oats to give it an ever so silky mouth feel. Notes of coffee, chocolate, and toasted marshmallow can be found in the flavor and aroma of this beer. Notes of whiskey and carmel are also packed into this beer.

12 fl oz brown glass bottle with uninteresting label art and red wax-ed over pry-off pressure cap acquired at a local Texas bottle shop and served into an Avery stem-tulip in low altitude Austin, Texas. Reviewed live. Expectations are very high given the brewery and that this is currently #26 on the Top 50 Southwest beers list. 11% ABV. Reviewed as an "imperial stout aged in oak whsikey barrels." Distributed by the Shelton Bastards - which explains the high $7.49 USD price point.

Served chilled and allowed to come to room temperature over the course of consumption. Side-poured with standard vigor as no carbonation issues are anticipated.

A: No bubble show forms as it's poured.

Pours a one finger wide head of gorgeous khaki colour. Full and supple, with a great soft complexion and shiny sheen. Smooth even consistency. Good creaminess and thickness. Head retention is quite good for the 11% ABV - about 6 minutes. Perfect even consistent lacing coats the sides of the glass as the head slowly recedes. Great looking head across the board.

Body colour is a predictable opaque solid jet-black. Some fine yeast particles are visible about the bottom of the glass. Appears adequately carbonated.

Overall, it's a really good looking imperial stout. That said, it's exactly what you'd expect and isn't unique or special. I'm really looking forward to the first sip. It's a rich appearance and the head is seductive.

Sm: Has a notable oat presence; they really used the oats for taste here - not just for the smooth texture. That's ballsy. Has a lovely milk chocolate aroma which comes off authentic; this is genuine chocolate, not artificial chocolate character or mere chocolate malt. Wonderful succulent cream, subtle hints of coffee, and well-integrated caramel notes are detectable, and work brilliantly with the other notes here. I also get a fantastic underside of roast (both barley and coffee) which I hope to God gets preserved in the taste. As it warms, some marshmallow emerges.

The barrel notes seem very motivated. The subtle whiskey spiciness, buried faint oak, and kiss of vanilla complement and accentuate the notes of the base beer instead of overwhelming them.

If this tastes as good as it smells, I'm in for a real treat.

No yeast character or overt alcohol is detectable. There are no off-notes.

T/Mf: The open greets the drinker with a welcoming creaminess and a smooth almost silky feel which remains throughout the beer. It's very soft for an imperial stout; this isn't the aggressive heavy texture you might expect. Ideal thickness and weight on the palate. Full-bodied. Has a great presence and texture overall. Excellent carbonation as well.

Not gushed, hot, boozy, astringent, harsh, or rough.

The creaminess is marvelous, and the oats work incredibly well in the body alongside the dark malts. There's no booziness at all here, and no yeast character or alcohol makes an appearance. The subtle milk chocolate is magnificent and integrates very naturally into the flavour profile. Light caramel, marshmallow, and vanilla lend still more nuance to an already wondrously complex and subtle beer. A very cohesive brew; I'd say the build is gestalt - there's nothing extraneous here and if you took out any individual note the beer would suffer. The whiskey barrel character is unfortunately a bit reticent, but that may be a plus because spiciness wouldn't really suit this taste too well; bourbon seems like it'd be a much better fit.

Good depth of flavour. Above average duration of flavour. Slightly below average intensity of flavour.

Constructively, it's a touch too sweet and there are some wisps of sticky dark fruit which never really amount to anything. Similarly, there's a barely present coconut note (probably from the whiskey?) which should really be amped up. Additionally, the roasty character I loved in the aroma is much more tame in the taste, which feels like a major missed opportunity.

Dr: Sinfully good and obscenely drinkable for the high ABV. This beer is a real treat and is a hell of an imperial stout. Really solid work from Prairie; I was beginning to think they were a one-trick pony what with all their farmhouse ales, but I'm happy to say I was dead wrong. I can see why it holds a spot on the Top 50 Southwest - and it definitely deserves it. I'd absolutely recommend this to friends, and in spite of its high price point I'd definitely buy it again. As far as imperial oatmeal stouts go, this is right up there with Founders Breakfast Stout in my estimation. I could easily have another. I'll go out of my way to hunt down the variants. Incredible stuff.

Look. Jet black. Legs for days.
Smell. Barrel. Chocolate. Coffee. Toasted marshmallows.
Taste. Barrel up front. Chocolate and coffee balance out the heat from the barrel. Marshmallow on the backend with the coffee bitterness balancing out the sweetness.
Feel. Good not great. I would like for it to be a little more chewy, but honestly, I'm just nitpicking at this point.
Overall. Another really nice brew from prairie!

Taste- The barrel is pretty big up front with the whisky flavors, but not overbearing. There's a really good balance between sweet and roasted flavors going on here. On one hand there's the whisky barrel upfront which gives way to milk chocolate and marshmallow flavors. Then there is a bitterness from the oak and roasted malts.

Feel- Full bodied (easily the fullest body for a noir variant, low carbonation, and a chewy/rich mouthfeel overall.

Overall- This is a great noir variant with a good array of flavors and a great chewy texture to it. There is some great flavors going on here but I don't think the roast/bitter aspects blend well with the sweeter flavors, at least not, Essentially this is great now, but could probably improve with some age. Worth buying a couple to try fresh and to age.